Resilient wheel.



W. F. MASTERS.

RBSILIENT WHEEL.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 7, 1910.

Patented June 6, 1911.

ATTORNEYS WILLIAM F.

MASTERS, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

RESILIENT WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, ight.

Application led July 7, 1910. Serial No. 570,72.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. MASTERS, a citizen of the United andState of New hattan, in they county new and. Improved York, haveinvented a Resilient Wheel, of which the following is ent wheels, moreespecially vehicle wheels,

although other wheels, such as pulleys, can be constructed in accordancewith the rinvention, with advantage.

The invention has in view a wheel having a tire with roller bearingsarranged between the wheel body and tire, which tend to eX- pand thetire and keep thelatter under tension by a flattening strain, or atendency of the tire and body of the wheel to rotate relatively.

Reference is to be had to the-accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a wheel having my improvedtire applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the tire on the line2-2 of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section taken longitudinallythrough the inner portion of the tire and wheel felly.

For the purpose of illustrating the nature and application of myimproved wheel, I have shown any form of wheel body 5, having the usualfelly 6 provided with an inner rim 7, ordinarily in the form of a flatband of metal. Substantially larger and concentrically surrounding therim 7 is an outer rim 8 covered with a tire proper9, the latter beingordinarily constructed ofvspring steel` Intermediate the two rims 7 and8 and bisecting the annular space formed therebetween is an annularspring l1, shown 1n the present form of the invention to be madeof twoleaves, the spring, as also the rim 7 as illustrated in Fig. 2, beingrelatively narrower than the outer rim and tire, so as to be wellprotected thereby, as when the wheel scrapes againstthe curb.

Seated on the outer face of the inner rim at intervals throughoutthecircumference of the wheel are roller bearings 12, each coacting withan opposed similar bearing 12a secured to the inner side of the annularspring 11. Each hearing has a concave bear- States, and a resident ofthe city of New York, borough of Maning 'ace curved longitudinally ofthe tire, whereby the bearing faces of each set of bearings arerelatively farther apart at the center than at the ends.l Similarbearings 13 and 13a are respectively secured to the inner side of theouter rim and to the outer side of the annular spring l1, with theseveral sets of bearings arranged opposite the interval between the setsat the inner side of the annular spring.V Each set of bearings iscontracted at the center longitudinally of the tire, and is beveled od'at the sides, as shown in Fig. 2, and receives a tension roller 14, eachroller. being divided transversely at-the center into two conical rollersections conforming to the beveled or tapered faces of the bearings, andadjustably secured together by a bolt or spindle 15, the outer ends ofthe roller sections being shown to be counterbored to respectivelyreceive the head and nut of the bolt. By thus constructing the rollersthey are easily adjusted to compensate for wear, and admit of the wheelbeing easily assembled, the assembling of the wheel being carried out byplacing the annular spring and outer rim and tire proper over the Wheelbody in concentric relation, with the respective bearings in register,and then passing the roller sections into the bearings from the oppositesides of the wheel, and after passing the bolts therethrough, applyingthe nuts and pulling them up by successive portions throughout the wheeluntil all of the rollers are fairly tight in their bearings, and thebody of the wheel is concentric to the tire.

With the improvements applied to a vehicle wheel, as points of the tireare successively compressed by the load of the vehicle, the unsupportedportions of the tire and annular spring will tend to straighten orflatten out, which tendency will be resisted by the rollers turningslightly in the bearings and tending to expand the tire and place itunder a tension increasing with the inward pressure of the load. ln thismanner the tire will eftectually resist a crushing pressure and beprevented from collapsing. Any tendency of the tire and wheel body torotate relatively will also be resisted by the roller bearings.

When the invention is applied to such a wheel as a pulley, it exerts aconstant tension on the driving belt and exerts a greater tension on thebelt as the load increases.

f Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent:

1.111 a wheel, a Wheel body, a tire having a limited rotary movementrelatively to the Wheel body, sets of bearings arrangedV at intervalsbetween the tire and wheel body, each set of bearings having opposedconcave bearing faces, and a tire tension roller arranged between 'thebearing faces of each set of bearings and operated by the limited rotarymovement between the wheel body and tire. f

2. A wheel body, bearings secured at intervals about the wheel body, anannular spring surrounding the bearings, having bearingsarranged at theinner side thereof and opposed to the first-named bearings, and havingbearings arranged at the outer side thereof opposite the intervals ofthe firstnamed bearings, a tire surrounding the annular spring, havingbearings arranged on negeer the inner side thereof opposed to thebearings on the .outer side of thespring, each set of opposed bearingsspaced .relatively farther apart at the center than at the ends, and arollerl arranged between and bearing on the bearings of each set.

3. A. tire having roller bearings arranged at intervals thereabout, thebearings of each set having opposed concave faces and inclining from thecenter toward each side, and a roller arranged between each setl ofbearings and conforming to the bearing faces thereof, each rollerdividedapproximately oentrally and transversely into two roller sections.-

InA testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

WILLIAM F. MASTERS.

Witnesses:

W. W. Hour,

PHILIP D. RoLLHAUs.

